A Rod Villain / Big Papi Celebrated

As I watched Big Papi grand slam the other night, I happened to be
reading about A Rod trial. Got me wondering how A Rod is a pariah in MLB
and Big Papi is one of the most celebrated players, yet both are confirmed steroid
cheaters. Announcers gush over Big Papi with no mention of his past
steroid history.

It's a fair question. Part of it is simple popularity. Part is the perception of Ortiz as a clutch player and Rodriguez as somebody who fails in key situations. Part is Rodriguez doing other crap people don't like.

It also helps Ortiz that his own team's fan base embraces him, something that Rodriguez has never gotten from Yankee fans. Yankee fans have zero room to complain about any kind of double standard given that so many of them refused to support the guy in the first place.

It's a fair question. Part of it is simple popularity. Part is the perception of Ortiz as a clutch player and Rodriguez as somebody who fails in key situations. Part is Rodriguez doing other crap people don't like.

It also helps Ortiz that his own team's fan base embraces him, something that Rodriguez has never gotten from Yankee fans. Yankee fans have zero room to complain about any kind of double standard given that so many of them refused to support the guy in the first place.

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Besides Red Sox fan base it seems like MLB/media has embraced him much like The NFL
embraced Ray Lewis. It's like history was washed away.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's no evidence that Ortiz used after the PED rules went into effect in 2003. He failed the survey test (which was used to get a handle on how many MLB players were using), but hasn't been implicated in anything other than an anecdotal way since then.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's no evidence that Ortiz used after the PED rules went into effect in 2003. He failed the survey test (which was used to get a handle on how many MLB players were using), but hasn't been implicated in anything other than an anecdotal way since then.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's no evidence that Ortiz used after the PED rules went into effect in 2003. He failed the survey test (which was used to get a handle on how many MLB players were using), but hasn't been implicated in anything other than an anecdotal way since then.

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Pretty much the same as Arod who was on same list with Ortiz in 2003.

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A-Rod's name was all over Biogenesis.

But I think the bottom line is that people --- with good reason --- think A-Rod is just a dick.

A-Rod, and Bonds for that matter, were despised for much of their careers... Ortiz has been a beloved folk hero for most of his time in Boston.

I get why Bonds and A-Rod would be targeted over other players. At least statistically, they've been the best players in baseball for the last 20 years or so. But it is interesting when big name players have their names come up in PED investigations and some of the players seem targeted by the media and others are ignored.